Motown Mum: Final Turnaround

Motown Mum

Here is the final model.

 

I had some problems with smoothing the mesh so decided to leave it without a smooth for now and render using smooth preview. 

Motown Mum:- Final Touches (w/Props)

Motown Mum is now complete, from modeling through to rigging and skinning. I have made some onstage props and the only thing left to do now is to add a few minor textures/shaders.

Fur Complete!

I have never really delved into the Fur texture attributes before this stage but I am happy with these results. I shall be revisiting the world of Maya Fur quite soon for future reference. :) 

Motown Mum - Slight Change Of Plan: Fur

The original idea was to texture the dress with a normal painted texture, but after looking at the reference material and thinking about it I've decided to use fur on the necessary parts.

A mixture of Polar and other Fur textures, still in early stages of development

I believe its a good choice and will help bring Motown Mum to life.

Progress: Texturing & Rigging

The model is now near enough complete! 

Time to start rigging and texturing..

Model Progress:- Working The Way Down..

Moving away from the head for a bit (before I get too critical and end up not making the rest of the model) and onto the arms..

Motown Mum Progression 5

Motown Mum Progression 4: Head

Things are starting to take shape now. I realised the back of the head was rather large, but wasn't too fussed as the hair will of course be covering that.

Motown Mum: Model Progression 3!

Starting to mould more distint shapes now. Got a bit caught up and paid more attention to the ears than necessary, but got them done in the end.

Motown Mum Progression 2

At this point I decided to stop sculpting the torso area, as most of it will not be seen under the dress accessory.

Moving swiftly on to the head..

Motown Mum:- Modeling (Blocking Out) Progression

Started off by blocking out the main and biggest parts of the dress.

Minor Part 2: Designs

Here are designs for the final character.

3 initial design, with the 3rd being the chosen final model

Front and side profiles (overlayed)

Final Turnaround

Final Shaded Turnaround

Minor Part 2: Motown Mum: Research

So with my final project going over well, it was discussed that I should try and redo my minor in the same sort of way: a semi realistic character based design project focused around a true story of someone I know.

My tutor Alan asked if I knew anybody else with a quirky/interesting/different sort of job/career/activity that I could possibly base the project on. I didn't really have anyone come to mind at first, but after a talk with Alan about it he managed to help came to a decision.

The motive of this project is Motown, where I will be creating Vanessa (my mother) as a Motown figure.

I already know a little bit about Motown music through my mum; she actually starred in the Motown musical "Dancing In The Streets" when it came to the West End some years back, and so naturally I have seen the show and had even gone along with her on the Dancing In The Streets tour with the rest of the cast. She has provided some useful bits of info and images to fill some gaps.

Here's some influence maps displaying image based research, I intend to follow these throughout the project.

 

Above are images of different music groups from the 1960's-70s Motown era. I have only included those that were relevant to my mum whilst she was in the show, so a looked specifically at Diana Ross & The Supremes, Martha & The Vandella's and The Marvelettes.

Show Flyer

Mum performing in Dancing In The Streets

Chosen dress

 Here we have images from the West End show. After doing some initial designs I decided on the white dresses worn in the map above. I have only been allocated a few weeks for this project and feel that I will get the best results with a more simplistic approach.